When we played zone last night, the outside shots just killed us. Of course, everything the Hawks put up barely even touched rim, but this goes back to our discussion on the podcast about the quickness/smarts of our players on the defensive end. If it isn't there, it isn't there.

i've said it before - zone press; start amir, start jack, maybe even belli, & press the bejeezus out of the opponent for the first few minutes of the game; if it works, you steal some easy buckets, tire out &/or frustrate their starters - if it doesn't...well, you're pretty much where you'd be anyway. at least this way, you take advantage of whetever 'strengths' this team has (deep bench? ok, i'm grasping...). have bosh reprise his olympics role. bring in your offensive-oriented guys (jose, bargs) relatively early to play either against tiring starters or bench guys. rinse & repeat.

i mean, seriously, at this point, what's to lose?

nothing beats spending an hour with the trade machine following a loss like this. of course, i'm not looking to make the team better, just fucking around. i figured that since they play like the wash. generals, they might as well look like the wash. generals. came up with a nice little 4-team deal that netted the raps marc gasol, darko, galinari, haddadi, jaric & deiner. only had to give up bosh, banks, amir, sonny, wright & po'b. seems like something that might interest the BMOC...

nothing beats spending an hour with the trade machine following a loss like this. of course, i'm not looking to make the team better, just fucking around. i figured that since they play like the wash. generals, they might as well look like the wash. generals. came up with a nice little 4-team deal that netted the raps marc gasol, darko, galinari, haddadi, jaric & deiner. only had to give up bosh, banks, amir, sonny, wright & po'b. seems like something that might interest the BMOC...

i played last night, and one of the guys who plays with us is a chucker in the ultimate sense of the word. i decided to track his touches:shots ratio. at one point, it was 23:25 (23 shots on 25 touches - i shit you not). i lost track after that.

reason i bring it up is that he doesn't defend a lick, doesn't rebound, and i've seen him literally run away from loose balls (not that he's afraid to mix it up, he just wants someone else to do the dirty work, and then pass it to him). he's the last guy back on D, he's the first guy to leak out...just a total pain in the ass to play with. the worst of it - he actually makes his shots, so he just keeps on firing away. to sum up - a fucking horrible teammate.

not that i'm trying to make comparisons with any raptors or anything. i just felt like bitching about something other than the raps.

haha...no, of course not. i just think BC has this fascination with revolutionizing the NBA, and nothing is gonna get him off that ideology. the big fear i have is that he's more interested in establishing his name than building a chip team...y'know, becoming a guy 'known' for something unique.

i'm not the type of guy who's gonna malign a player for where he's from; there are plenty of good, tough, sound fundamental international players. we just don't happen to have many (any?) of 'em on this roster.

i played last night, and one of the guys who plays with us is a chucker in the ultimate sense of the word. i decided to track his touches:shots ratio. at one point, it was 23:25 (23 shots on 25 touches - i shit you not). i lost track after that.

reason i bring it up is that he doesn't defend a lick, doesn't rebound, and i've seen him literally run away from loose balls (not that he's afraid to mix it up, he just wants someone else to do the dirty work, and then pass it to him). he's the last guy back on D, he's the first guy to leak out...just a total pain in the ass to play with. the worst of it - he actually makes his shots, so he just keeps on firing away. to sum up - a fucking horrible teammate.

not that i'm trying to make comparisons with any raptors or anything. i just felt like bitching about something other than the raps.

LOL .... I think every small town has one of those guys. God knows I've run into a bunch of them over the years. But if we were comparing him to current Raptors, he sounds like Turkoglu only your peer can hit his shots at least.

i played last night, and one of the guys who plays with us is a chucker in the ultimate sense of the word. i decided to track his touches:shots ratio. at one point, it was 23:25 (23 shots on 25 touches - i shit you not). i lost track after that.

reason i bring it up is that he doesn't defend a lick, doesn't rebound, and i've seen him literally run away from loose balls (not that he's afraid to mix it up, he just wants someone else to do the dirty work, and then pass it to him). he's the last guy back on D, he's the first guy to leak out...just a total pain in the ass to play with. the worst of it - he actually makes his shots, so he just keeps on firing away. to sum up - a fucking horrible teammate.

not that i'm trying to make comparisons with any raptors or anything. i just felt like bitching about something other than the raps.

Is he a Filipino guy that wears a Pistons' Grant Hill jersey? If so, he plays with me too. I hear what you're saying, those are the worst kinds of players.

haha...no, of course not. i just think BC has this fascination with revolutionizing the NBA, and nothing is gonna get him off that ideology. the big fear i have is that he's more interested in establishing his name than building a chip team...y'know, becoming a guy 'known' for something unique.

i'm not the type of guy who's gonna malign a player for where he's from; there are plenty of good, tough, sound fundamental international players. we just don't happen to have many (any?) of 'em on this roster.

It's a team like we have right now when I wish Garbo was still healthy and around. Its that type of toughness we lack. And I'm sorry, if there are fans out there that think Evans is going to turn this team around with his court presence and toughness, then we have bigger problems. This is a team effort, not something one player can singlehandly fix.

Is he a Filipino guy that wears a Pistons' Grant Hill jersey? If so, he plays with me too. I hear what you're saying, those are the worst kinds of players.

no man, i'm in halifax. though i went to school in guelph, and used to play pick-up; there was a filipino guy who played who totally LOOKED like a baller, and he sure did like to fire up shots.

there's a good comment in the roll call by 'hateslosing,' in which he/she interprets bargs' lack of touches to be in-house punishment by the players, because they feel the coaching staff isn't making bargs accountable for his D or rebounding (or, in general, sustained effort/hustle). only problem i have with that theory is that it seems jose is the one who looks him off, and he (jose) is the last dude on the planet to be punishing someone else for their defensive short-comings.

all-in-all...i'm gonna enjoy this. for so many years, the raps have lacked an identity we could be proud of. soft was one. euro-centric another. middling. now, they're shitty, on a clippers/timberwolves kinda level. now THAT is something worth being proud of.

I am not a fan of Bryan's tenure, I would love a new experienced GM, should one become available.

At the same time, the team has never performed this bad since the Mitchell firing. With Sam our problem was that we did not know how to put the good teams away. Too often the game got lost by bucket or a missed rebound, but the team was competitive most of the time.

With Triano, its been a disaster thus far. Players are saying that the coach is not using the tape properly to correct poor defense. This has to be frustrating.

If we can't replace Bryan, than we need to do the next logical thing. Something needs to be done. I am not happy with this coaching staff... I feel that this roster is capable of more. I know we will never be a defensive team with this bunch, but 30th in the league? Man Sam did better with Aurajo, a deer struck Andrea, Jose and the clap defense, brain fart Joey.

We have to start looking at facts, and Jay has done little to invite confidence other than deal with the media. I am sorry, but coaching in the NBA is not for everyone, its not about knowing your basketball, as the players already know 95% of what the coach does. It is about dealing with egos, personalities, and getting the most out of individuals that may need to be pushed.

Last night was an example of what the Raptors will play like once Bosh leaves. The Nets will have to pile up many more losses to keep their record safe from next year's Raptors.

It would have been nicer, if he decide to leave on his out of body travels 15 minutes earlier and did not take up precious playing time that could have gone to someone else.

Last night was also an example of his leadership. As far as I understand, we are still paying him, no? Does he wear a uniform with Toronto on it? Was Toronto not playing Atlanta last night? The franchise and fans count him as our #1 player. Is there something I am missing?

It boggles my mind how fast Triano and the rest of his coaching staff gave up so early in the game. down by 20+ going into the 3rd and we practically gave up. how many times have we seen teams come back fomr a 20+ point deficit in the 3rd only to catch up and either make it a very close contest or come out with a W? (thats right, we've seen it a handful of times this year from teams that face the raps LOL). yet we can't even find effort from these guys to even try and challenge the opposing team?